Hired by an eccentric 92 year old baroness, an archivist takes up residence in a decaying Italian villa to catalogue it's art and antiques collection : and finds himself caught in a mad tangle of houseguests, handymen and other quirky characters. A light and sunny book perfect for the summer...or to cheer yourself up during the depths of winter!
Her accent was peculiar and untraceable. Hardly Italian, somehow not European at all, or at least not from a country still on a contemporary map. Later, I would discover that her words, rather than sticking firmly to the language at hand as one dines on the dish the waiter has set down, instead seemed to pick from everybody's plate. I also found it impossible to guess her age; she had the pale chartaceous skin of the elderly and hair as white as a snowy owl, but spoke in a manner both suave and crude that did not match my conception of the antique.
